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ODD BODS

Name: ODD BODS
Author: Julie Murphy
ISBN: 978-1-5415-8502-7

THE WORLD'S UNUSUAL ANIMALS

by Julie Murphy ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 2, 2021

Not a necessary purchase—but an easy sell.

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Photos of 11 unusual-looking animals are accompanied by statements about the utility of their odd features.

From thorn bugs in the Americas to saiga antelopes in Eurasia, this album introduces strikingly unusual-looking members of the animal kingdom from around the world. Singling out animals that “look freaky” is a dubious premise for children’s attention, but author Murphy points out that “these odd features also make them super survivors.” Spread by spread she presents close-up photographs that fill a page and a half; a single-sentence caption and a short boxed paragraph explaining the odd feature’s utility appear in the remaining space. The mammals—dugong, aye-aye, naked mole rat, narwhal, and the aforementioned antelope—may be animals children have heard of. Leafy sea dragons sometimes turn up in aquariums. But the others—the brightly colored thorn bug gracing the cover, a sea slug called a glaucus, an Australian reptile called a thorny devil, and the African shoebill (a large, grumpy-looking bird)—are likely to surprise. The photographs, from stock sources, are wonderfully attention-getting. There seems no need for the exclamation marks that end every descriptive sentence and most of the explanatory paragraphs. The information given is limited but sound, supported with additional facts and suggestions for further reading and web research in the backmatter.

Not a necessary purchase—but an easy sell. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 2, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-5415-8502-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner

Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
I'VE GOT FEET!
by Julie Murphy ; illustrated by Hannah Tolson

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FIND MOMO EVERYWHERE

From the Find Momo series , Vol. 7

by Andrew Knapp ; illustrated by Andrew Knapp ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.

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Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.

Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.

A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781683693864

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Quirk Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
LET'S FIND MOMO!
by Andrew Knapp ; photographed by Andrew Knapp

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WHAT IF YOU HAD AN ANIMAL HOME!?

From the What if You Had . . .? series

by Sandra Markle ; illustrated by Howard McWilliam ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2024

Another playful imagination-stretcher.

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Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.

As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.

Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)